Howling at the Moon

We were lucky enough to go out last Saturday with some very awesome and very old friends of ours who visited from Canada over the Christmas Holidays. Peter is Ewa's brother and I have known him since he was 16. He was lucky enough to marry beautiful Lindsay, who can Howl with the best of 'em. Emerson was home with her new BFF Ashlyn, so we were able to relax and have a good time. Angela came along as well, and even snapped this pic (which I swiped off her Facebook)....notice how she doesn't post any pictures of herself?!

All our requested songs were played because we request awesome songs! We had a good time and it was fun to get out with friends. Unfortunately morning came way to soon! Can't wait until we see you guys again! Next time, it's Bob Schneider in Austin!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas to All

I do love him, really I do......

I did not meet my goal of having Ricardo's stocking done by Christmas, so he may have to settle for a New Years stocking. In the meantime, this 'green' stocking will have to do.

HELP

There's a giraffe in the house. This a bath set that we got for Emerson before she was born and have recently pulled out. She thinks it's a toy and has been sleeping with the giraffe hand-puppet washcloth.

New BFF

This is Ashlyn, Emerson's new BFF. I sold my VW to Ashlyn's mom after it was repaired following our accident. We are very happy that she has agreed to babysit for us. Emerson and Ashlyn spent a few hours together last weekend and Emerson had a great time. Ashlyn did all the things that Emerson loves...read books (over and over), going outside to play, coloring and having a snack. I just need to figure out a way to convince the girl that she needs to not worry about silly things like friends, dates, graduation, college :)

A little Elf

I think it looks better this way :)

Goats and Lories and Fish, OH MY!

Last Sunday, we went to the San Antonio Zoo thinking that Emerson would really enjoy seeing all the animals. She is an animal lover and never passes up an opportunity to pet or interact with an animal (we often have to hold her back from completely overwhelming new animals she meets). So we thought that Emerson would get really excited about seeing all the different animals. We saw all the usual suspects - lions, tigers, bears, giraffes, hippo's, elephants, kangaroo's, and monkeys. Emerson's reactions was one of polite indifference. She looked but didn't get too excited. We thought she'd really like the monkeys, but she wasn't all that interested. However, there were a few animals that she just LOVED LOVED LOVED..........

GOATS!

LORIES!

And FISH!

Considering how much Emerson loved the fish, maybe a trip to the Texas State Aquarium is in order?

17 Monkey's sitting in a chair

This girl loves her monkeys, so it's a good thing she has lots of them. Perhaps she's the next Jane Goodall?

3rd times a charm

I am embarrassed to admit that I started this stocking BEFORE Emerson was born, and just about an month shy of her 3rd Christmas, I have finally finished it. My grandmother made me a stocking when I was baby and I still have it and hang it every year. Now Emerson's stocking can join mine. Now, I need to get started on Ricardo's stocking...........

Emerson John

All she needs is a pair of platform shoes and a piano.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Emerson!!!

On Sunday, November 16 Emerson turned 2! OMG, who turned 2? Emerson? Is 2? When did that happen?

In honor of Emerson's big day, we hosted The 2nd Annual Post Halloween Costume Party to celebrate. All of Emerson's favorite people were invited and everyone had fun with the balloons, jump house, cotton candy and balloon animals.

Emerson bouncing in the bounce house! Princess Leia for the 4th time!

Erin (Scream) and Taylor (Hannah Montana) enjoying some cake and ice cream.

Grandpa tired out with a full belly.

Sweet Parker came all the way from Austin! We loved seeing you and your momma! And we loved your "Super Parker" costume!

Emerson's cake. One of the ladies in my office made the cake and I thought it was super cute.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday girl.

Opening presents. Emerson received some very cool gifts. Thank you everyone for the wonderful presents.

Emerson and her devoted Grandma.

Sean the Knight enjoying the balloons.

Handsome Alex. He started out as Yoda, be needed to change in order to bounce to his fullest.

Beautiful "Mardi Gras Princess" Michal Riley enjoying some cake.

Tio Aurelio, Grandpa and Dailen.

Here is Daniel in his adorable skeleton costume. He is one big chunk of baby goodness. Emerson's other special friends Aspen, Taylor and Cassie were able to come after Cassie's recital. Wish we had some pictures of them!

Emerson's father and I cannot believe where the time has gone! The baby we brought home from the hospital is a bona fide toddler now. She is one busy girl. Her favorite things are books, her new easel and crayons, building with Lego's, jumping, running and trying to catch the cats (she's been unsuccessful so far, much to their relief).

We are so proud of Emerson and how far she has come. She continues with PT and is doing great. She jumps off of curbs, so most probably won't need PT for much longer. She also continues with Speech Therapy and is making progress in leaps and bounds. When Emerson was evaluated by the Speech Therapist, she was found to have normal to high comprehension and delayed verbal expression. But she is making up for lost time and is adding new words and sounds every day. The cutest thing she does is put her finger to her mouth and say "Shhhhh" when she thinks someone is sleeping. Emerson's sign language vocabulary is also expanding everyday. I have a hard time keeping up with them and I am sure she is using signs and I don't even know it. Her speech therapist is pleased with her progress, so we are encouraged. The ENT that Emerson has been seeing says that her ears are improving (she doesn't have chronic ear infections, but she does chronically have fluid in them) and that she can probably hear better which is probably playing a part in her recent verbal development. Whatever the cause, we are just happy to hear our sweet girls voice.

Emerson is still doing great in the sleeping department. She has recently started sleeping a little less at night and is now, finally taking a longer nap in the afternoon. For the past 18-20 months, she was a horrible daytime sleeper, maybe 45 minutes. Which didn't bother us too much after she turned 10 months old and started sleeping 12 hours at night. Now she naps for at least 2 hours. Her teachers at Primrose are relieved, as she would wake up from her nap before the other kids and wake them all up...they would have to take Emerson out of the room and do other activities with her until the other kids woke up.

She is eating like a typical toddler...eats everything in site one day and then isn't interested in much for a few days. I am trying to become more relaxed about it, but this does stress me out...I worry that she isn't getting enough to eat. However, she always has room for Yo Baby yogurt, so I think a little of her will is starting to show. Her pedi isn't concerned and Emerson is growing and remains proportionate. She is still small, 5th percentile for both height and weight. She was 22 lbs and 31 inches at her 2 year appointment.

She has thrown one major tantrum the likes that neither her father nor I have ever seen. I was in shock and had to leave the room. She was able to calm down and it hasn't happened again. She has started to throw a tantrum a few more times since then, but quickly gives up when we walk away and she realizes she doesn't have an audience anymore. I am sure there are more to come and I hope I have the strength to deal with them when they do. Any suggestions?

She is now the proud owner of 16 teeth!

We are just so in love with our little girl. She is amazing and every night after she goes to bed, we have to shake our heads and laugh. What a blessing she is and we are so thankful she is here with us...we can't imagine our lives without her. We are thankful that God has allowed us the awesome job of being her parents.

Who wants some Red Bull?

This is extra special Red Bull, with a super sweet center!

Yo Baby still rocks

When the spoon doesn't get it in fast enough, drinking your yogurt is an acceptable alternative.

Like a big girl

We recently turned Emerson's car seat around for her to face forward. Everything we read was saying to leave her backward as long as we could as it was safer. While Emerson still fit with the seat backward, she was very irritated with it and was miserable on drives. And when Emerson is miserable, well, you can guess the rest. Her disposition has improved in the car now that she is facing forward. I guess she likes seeing where we're going. We still have her in the middle of the back seat, which is recommended for safety.

Happy Halloween!!!

We had a great Halloween! Our friends came over and we went trick or treating and then back to the house for pizza, apple juice and beer. Amy brought over her 7 layer dip, which was awesome and the drinks, which was awesome as well. Emerson donned her Princess Leia costume, saved from last year.

Handsome Alex as Yoda and beautiful Michal Riley as Sleeping Beauty. This girl made it almost all the way around the block with her high heels....you go, girl!

Last year, Emerson did not go trick or treating. She was too young and still wasn't walking. This year however, we were prepared! We practiced saying "Trick or Treat" before the big day, and tried on her costume to make sure it still fit since she wore it last. We set off with everyone else, her green pumpkin and her stroller as back-up. It took a few houses for her to get the hang of it, but after that there was no stopping her. She'd march herself up to the house and say "Trick or Treat" and hold out her pumpkin for the treats! She had a great time and went all the way around the block on her own power and feet. I did have to empty her pumpkin once as it was getting to heavy for her to carry and she was dragging it on the ground. Once we got home, we inspected her candy and weeded out the inappropriate candy (Hot Tamales, gum, taffy, etc.) and then let her enjoy a piece (mini 3 Musketeers) of her hard-earned treats!

I voted today

For the first time in my life. Prior to this election, I never felt informed enough to participate in such an important decision. This election, I made it my business to learn about the candidates and their position on the issues. Regardless of how it turns out, the fact that a woman and black man are on the ballot for 2 of the most important jobs in the country is awesome!! Either way, tomorrow we'll know what kind of history was made.

My Favorite Supporter

She's helping me with my campaign and she looks darn cute doing it!

South Texas Corn Maize

A few weekends ago, we met up with some friends to enjoy some Fall activities. We headed out to the South Texas Corn Maize for some fun. They had a corn ma(i)ze to get lost in as well as lots of other family fun activities. Things started off a little rocky for Emerson...she wasn't feeling well and her nap had been cut short, but she got into it and ended on a good note.

Beautiful Michal Riley and her momma, Kim along with handsome Alex lost in the maze.

Amy, Michael Riley and Alex in the barrel ride. The kids enjoyed this A LOT more than Amy did.

Emerson and her dad in the barrel ride....this was a high point for Emerson and she wanted to go again.

Emerson's favorite part....feeding the adorable goats. The maze sold feed for them in ice cream cones. The goats would run to the fence when they saw the ice cream cones. Some ate the cones others didn't. Once the goats had finished eating the feed out of her cone, she'd bend down and pull the grass and put it in the cone to get the goats to come back to her so she could pet them some more. I bet she would have been a girl in heaven if we had brought one of the goats home.

Here we are lost in the maze. The maze had numbered posts in it that corresponded to questions on hint sheets. If you got the answer right, it told you which direction to turn in. Some questions were harder than others and we'd find ourselves back at the post only to try again. It was fun getting lost. However, we were filthy afterward and in bad need of a bath.

Meeting Tia Neila

The other day Emerson got to meet her Great Tia Neila. Tia Neila was visiting from Chicago for a few days. As you can see they hit if off great and spent a little time reading one of Emerson's favorite books. Tia Neila also brought Emerson some very cute clothes that will fit in time for spring! Emerson enjoyed her visit with Tia Neila and is hoping she gets to meet Miss Reese (Tia Neila's employer) someday!

Haircut #3

Emerson got her haircut this past Sunday. As compared to her last 2 haircuts when she was hanging out, driving the fire truck or VW Bug and watching Blue's Clues, Emerson was miserable this last time. Even a lollipop didn't make it better. After her ordeal, we hugged and soothed til she felt better. Going home afterward and having a 2 hour nap REALLY made it all better.

Mother's Little Helper

She's been earning her allowance!

The Other Sick Child

Obviously, it's not Emerson that is sick. Ana had been having UTI symptoms a few weeks ago. We took her to the vet and she was put on 10 days of antibiotics. She got better and her symptoms improved. But a few days after she finished the antibiotics, her symptoms came back. For anyone who has ever had a UTI, the symptoms are the same in a cat and she was miserable. And we were miserable with all the new laundry--bath mats, bedspreads, dirty cloths AND clean clothes. So we took her back to the vet today. The vet thinks that either Ana Nicole still has the UTI or she has a sterile cystitis that is usually brought on by stress. Well, Emerson has been here for almost 2 years and she hasn't had a change in diet, so we are unsure what she could be stressed about, except maybe the upcoming election or the economy.
The collar is to prevent her from grooming herself down there -- she is so raw down there from the incessant grooming that comes with 8 trips to the litter box in 30 minutes that we've had to put the collar on her to prevent that. She's adapting and it's amusing.

Help her Obiwan, she's a geek

I couldn't resist.....I HAD to have it. Isn't she awesome? She's #1350 of 3000 and she lives in her own sleeping bag on my key chain. When I spoke at the TAPAN State Conference a few weekends ago, I had to use Rico's old, plain and blah jump drive for my presentation because mine had gone missing. Just wait until next year when Leia and I show up...the AV guy is going to love it!

Miss Israel

It was again "Celebrating Cultures" week at Emerson's school. This year, Emerson's class (the toddler room) learned about Israel. The parade was on the last day of the week and the little girls wore white shirts and black skirts with white and black head kerchiefs and the little boys wore white shirts with black pants and yarmulkes. They all looked so cute. Emerson did great. She walked both laps, smiling and waving all the way. A big change from last year when she was in the infant room. The parade was again like a little Olympic Opening Ceremonies or a Mini-UN meeting, with each classroom representing a different country. Some that I remember were Greece, Russia, Korea, China, India and Madagascar. It was definitely worth standing in the sun to see the whole thing and to especially see how sweet Emerson looked, straight off the kibbutz.